Ive finally got some income now back from school, looking through the car and finding out the little things i want to fix and replace. The biggest concern is my hazard switch. The switch itself is broken, as well as the cover. It wont click in and is currently being held by zip ties. I want to fix that.
Also for the headliner, needs replacing bad. Ive looked and found alot of people trying to fix it but i saw most had wagons so they could slide it out. how do you get the whole headliner out without breaking it in half so you can fix it in a sedan?
Has anyone done or heard of a foglight mod? Basically so when my high beams are on, my fog lights are still on - does wonders when driving at night compared to just high beams and no fogs. Is it a simple electrical switch or rewire?
Im also battling with my major mechanical fixes i need such as front brakes and rear suspension. The brakes are a no brainer and i plan on doing those very soon, howeve the suspension i think needs a whole new replacement, but when i push on the back of the car, i can hear the air and compresion of what i believe is the shock. So i can tell those are gone. Also the springs must be gone too if its sagging. I know i should do both at the same time, but could i do one and it be alittle better? or how important are they to eachother.

 

might help if you told us what car you have... year too, as there are many little changes especially on the 240's between the 70s, 80s, and 90s, also between the early and later 740s.

re: foglights, on the 1992 740/940 that I have schematics for, the fog lights are controlled by a relay (in the central relay panel behind the ashtray), which is controlled by the foglight switch, which in turn is powered by a green wire that comes off fuse 19 which also powers the left low beam.

if you want them to come on when either headlight is on, you'd use a pair of silicon diodes, wired one to fuse 19, the other to fuse 17 (blue-white wire to left high beam), with the diodes wired so the foglight switch and relay are powered if either headlight is on. note that green wire from fuse 19 to pin 4 on the foglamp relay is not the only green wire under the relay/fuse panel.

now the details of that vary by car model, and by year, but the general idea is the same

sagging rear ends are often because the rubber bushings in the suspension are shot. hearing the shocks doesn't mean they are bad, but if when you bounce your weight on the car it bounces more than once after you release the weight, that means the shocks are gone. The stock shocks on most 240/740/940 volvos are boge/sachs, Bilstein "TC" (Touring) are a nice mild upgrade. Bilstein HD (Heavy Duty) would (IMHO) only be suitable if you are also installing stiffer sport springs to match (shock damping should be matched to spring rate).

 

My sig says my car. 1991 944t. Thanks for the idea for the fogs. Yeah the bushings are what some other memebers said. Do i basically need to pull the whole suspension off in order to do the bushings?

 

um, I'm actually not sure which specific bushings are most likely the candidates, I had my old 240 done by a shop and had them replace everything from a parts kit, they said there were bushings in there they'd never ever bothered to replace before.. I'm getting ready to begin to commence to do this on my 740 wagon.

here's the rear end of a 92 740/940 wagon (your sedan should be nearly identical)





you probably don't have the swaybar (it was optional, used on some sporty models, parts #1, #2, and hardware on the 1st drawing)

you can replace most of the bits incrementally, put the tail of car up on sturdy jackstands, put a bottlejack under the rear axle to unload a shock and unbolt that shock from the bottom, then drop the axle and you can remove front main bushing (#2 in the 2nd drawing) that the trailing arm pivots on. you can also remove/replace the spring (its bolted at the top to the frame). there's two rubber pad things that wrap around the axle (#7 in the 2nd), dunno if those are worth replacinng. I think the bushings on the 'torque arms' (#32,33,35,36 on drawing #2) and the 'panhard rod' (#13, #14 on the 2nd) are important too, if these are shot, the car will clunk side to side and/or when you apply/release power. if you're really fanatical, do #21&24 on the 2nd, those support the torque frames (#18/19) that transmits thrust to the body of the car and pushes you forward.

I suggest Volvo brand regular rubber for most/all of these FCP and IPD both sell kits of all the bits you need. Don't get sucked into poly except maybe in a couple places, many poly bushings are inferior quality, and they have an annoying tendancy to squeak badly a few months after installation. the factory rubber pieces will last 10+ years of hard driving. Poly also gives you a harsher, noisier ride.


OH. do your rear shocks have 'bellows' on the lower part like the #8 shown in the inset box in pic #1 ? Those are nivomats, and if you ahve those and its sagging, ignore everything I said above. You have two choices. new nivomats ($$$$$), or new regular springs + regular shocks (about the same $$$ once, but next time, cheaper shocks). Nivomats are special load leveling shock absorbers, and they are mated to softer-than-normal springs... when the nivomats wear out, the car sags, badly. if someone replaced nivomats with regular shocks, same problem.